that's it for us. thanks for watching. erin burnett starts now. close view of the devastation across the state of new jersey. and i spent the day today in hoboken, new jersey. tonight, troops are still going through the flood waters trying to rescue people chapped in their homes. and at this moment, one of the largest hospitals in new york is being evacuated. it's the second hospital forced to be evacuated after losing power and relying on generators.

the president of the hospital will join us live. let's go "outfront." ♪ search and rescue. two days after one of the most devastating storms to ever hit the east coast of the united states, there's frustration, desperation, there's fear. people are cold and tired and people are hungry. dramatic scenes like this are playing out in new jersey and new york. watch this rescuer from the new york police department lowering himself onto a home on staten island, new york. and you'll see a resident pulled through the roof and back to safety. police say just this one helicopter rescued five adults and one child yesterday. and on the ground, frantic searches, including the search for two children who were ripped from their mother's arms two

nights ago. they are still unaccounted for. teams spent the day double-checking the 110 homes that went up in flames in breezy point. they're trying to make sure no one else died in the fire and blood. and in hoboken, new jersey, the national guard is working around the clock to help those who have been holed up in their homes for three days now. those people were cold and there were makeshift ways where they were trying to get through the water. the mayor estimates that in hoboken, 20,000 people could be trapped tonight. the death toll from sandy is now up to at least 48 people in eight states and nearly 6 million people in 15 states and the nation's capital are still without power tonight. also today, president obama got a firsthand look of the jersey shore, one of the areas hardest hit by sandy. here they are in a photo on marine one. the president said he will help.

>> we are here for you. and we will not forget. we will follow up to make sure that you get all the help that you need until you rebuild. >> the iconic board walk in seaside heights, new jersey, is one of the places the president saw today. it's made famous by bruce str g michael, i know you toured there. what did you see? >> reporter: we went right up and down a number of towns there, ocean beach, normandy. we spent a couple of hours there with the local police chief. i can tell you, it was absolutely extraordinary, the amount of damage that was done by hurricane sandy, erin.

there's gas leaks there that continue to be a problem. we seen a stream of gas trucks go across the bridge to shut off the gas. there was one particular area in the area of brick, where about three or four football fields worth of houses had been burnt to the ground by a fire started by gas leaks. we were among the first to get over there with our cameras, and there were houses literally in the middle of the street picked up by the force of the ocean and dumped in the middle of the road, still in tact. we saw sinkholes. one had a pickup truck up to its windows in this sinkhole. the dunes used to be about 12 feet tall, if you like. they are now nothing. they are gone. houses have been exposed, they've been toppled over.

the force of the water just blew through those dunes and raced through the town. five feet tall in some places. and the damage is absolutely extraordinary. we saw the president's helicopter fly past us while we were standing on the beach. we were, erin, in the surf club the day that the hurricane rolled in. we went back there today. it is absolutely destroyed. >> it is stunning just to imagine, michael, what it's going to take for people to rebuild. we'll be joined by the mayor in a moment. but michael, i know that you had a chance to speak to some of the people there who had the opportunity to be evacuated and chosen not to. how do they feel now? it's been several days and a lot of them are still awaiting rescue. >> reporter: it's a mix of things. we spoke to some of those people before the hurricane and today, going back and seeing some of them, they are ruing that decision. they didn't think it was going to be like that, even though they were told it was a

mandatory evacuation. they thought they could ride it out. a lot of them were thinking they made the wrong decision. there was also a touching one that we saw. an elderly man and his wife, she had alzheimer's and he chose to ride it out because she was more comfortable at home. he said if he had his time over again, he would have left. about 300 people were pulled off today. the police say no one is going to be allowed back for several days. there's still a few people in their houses, refusing to leave. the police have said if you come outside, we'll take you into custody and take you off the island. but if you stay indoors, we'll leave you alone. >> you mentioned the sand. i spent a lot of time coming back and forth. my family lived there. when you talk about the sand, is it literally blocking the roads? give everyone a sense of how overwhelming it is. it's sort of like all beach now,

right? >> reporter: it's extraordinary. the beach goes about three or four blocks inland. all the sand was picked up, dumped down the roads. yeah, it's an obstacle on many of those streets you can't drive because the sand is so deep. and we've seen at least 20 or 30 front end loaders go over today and we saw them begin to start to pick that sand up and dump it off the roadways. you imagine a 12-foot dune that's just not there anymore. that sand is all on the roadways in these towns and communities. >> michael, thank you very much. giving us a real sense of the devastation there. bill acres is the mayor of seaside heights. i spoke to him a couple of moments ago and asked him what the most crucial issue that he's facing tonight is. >> the most crucial issues are making sure to get all the gas leaks stopped. we have to get that done before we can start thinking about restoring power.

we don't want to have any explosions, because we still don't have all of our response equipment over here yet, fire trucks, things like that. as far as there are people, the second part of the question, there are definitely people. we evacuated as much as 98%, but we have people here. we have the state police along with the prosecutor's office. we'll be going door to door 5 58 -- 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. >> we're looking at some of the scenes here. it's hard to watch. i know for you it's -- it must just break your heart to see this. how long do you think before this town will be back? >> i couldn't even venture to guess. it's an overwhelming task.

i know that there are brighter minds than mine that will have to be involved in this with the process and planning and implementing it and getting everything going. i guess the silver lining to all this is that the buildings and structures and things like that, that have been destroyed, we have a lot of very, very good people around us. and that's what we're going to need to get this thing done. >> i know some of the people there say they're going back in and rebuilding and that's their attitude. it's wonderful to hear but hard to think about when you see those pictures. i know you had said that the damage could be severe, up to $1 billion. that would be more than the entire damage in the state of new jersey with a big hurricane. that's just to give people a sense of the scale. do you still think that's the cost you're looking at to rebuild? >> i absolutely do. because what you're seeing is overhead pictures. nobody has seen the structure

damage, the foundations, the pilings are gone. we lost two piers. once they can get in and see these, i think you're going to see condemnation on a lot of these properties. it's absolutely for the owners of these places, because there's generation of families that go back to seaside heights. it's going to be heartbreaking when they go in and see and realize what has happened. >> some people watching may see these pictures and say isn't that the town that because famous in "jersey shore?" it is. this is that town. it's a light hearted show and now hard to fit these images with that. mayor, do you think this will help in terms of the attention you may get and people understanding the situation and helping? >> i would welcome any and all help. and if that's what it takes to get some people interested in

helping seaside, i welcome it. it can never be a bad thing to shed light on a serious situation, and this is about as serious as it gets. >> amid all the destruction, there are signs things are returning to normal in some places. the stock exchange opened after being shut for two days. and this is the scene right now outside our building. traffic, and i mean incredible traffic. gridlock like i've never experienced in my life in new york city. it's something that's been missing on the streets of new york. but today, with public transportation shut down, and the crane disruption, commuters sat for hours and hours in traffic. and we ran into a lot of trouble ourselves as we tried to get to hoboken. it took us half hour to move two blocks and another two hours to get to hoboken, which is five miles away. tomorrow, parts of the new york

city subway will reopen, which is miraculous. the pictures you're seeing, that's still the case in some parts of the system. it's a pretty incredible testament to new york. still to come, coming to the rescue. i spent the day with the national guard in hoboken, new jersey, where they're going door to door. and governor cuomo of new york visited what's left of a queens neighborhood. residents tried to come home for the first time. and for some they found nothing. and john king has a map to show you. one shows areas of the power outage and the other how those residents voted in the last election. try running four.ning a restaurant is hard, fortunately we've got ink.

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shifts through the wreck answer, 110 homes in the breach front community were destroyed. >> reporter: they searched through the ashes and took the few things that survived hurricane sandy's unexpected inferno. >> i have the cross from my rosary beads when i was taking holy communion 70 years ago. >> reporter: she found nothing. >> pictures, memories, my husband died a few years ago, his favorite desk that he absolutely loved. and everything i have of him, just all phone. >> reporter: as families searched for belongings, fire search and rescue teams made sure no one had disappeared in

the fire. >> although we have no reports of people missing, we can't take anything for granted. we're searching for any victims, anyone that could be trapped. >> reporter: the community, that includes firefighters, police and first responders, lost many people on 9/11. as they did then, they came together now. >> it's all we have. we're all so close here. >> reporter: so one loss is a loss for everyone? >> absolutely. >> reporter: new york's governor made a brief appearance to see the devastation up close. >> to see the families coming in and coming out, and how you can have your life overturned in 24 hours. and they were in their home, they had their belongings and now their lives are gone. their lives are shattered. they're looking for places to stay. and coming back to literally pick up the pieces of their lives. >> reporter: pieces which maybes and friends will use to rebuild.

>> sandy has thrown the presidential candidates off track in the last days of the campaign. now there's concern that the power outages caused by the storm could affect voting. john, what have you been finding on that question? we've been hearing that from more and more people and i know you have some answers. >> let's hope with six days to go, that utility officials can get most of this fixed. you see the areas that are not green. they have been impacted by hurricane sandy when it comes to power outages. the darker the color means the higher number of people without power. we know new york and new jersey are likely to go democratic. but let's walk over to pennsylvania here and look at this. you see this down here? let me help you understand this chart a little bit. this explains the darker the

color, the higher the number of people without power. as we come back to pennsylvania, i want to show you something. it's obvious to the naked eye. in this area here is where you see more people without power. scranton, philadelphia, in the suburbs. about 100,000 out of power in philadelphia and montgomery and bucks county alone. let's look at how they voted in the last election. if the problems persist, right there that tells you more of a problem for the president. if there's no power at polling stations. if people just decide too much hassle, i can't vote. pennsylvania is an absentee ballot state but not ann early voting state. let's move over to ohio. this is a place where the obama campaign worked very hard on early voting in the african-american communities, especially in the cleveland area. you see cleveland, the cleveland

suburbs, and to a lesser degree down here to the south in the akron area, people without power. how did they vote in 2008 and how do they tend to vote in presidential policies? across the top of the state, heavy democratic areas. our producer called out to cuyahoga today. early voting down today than it was four years ago. so you see some obvious immediate impacts. the question is, again, with a few more days to go, five more d days, can they get this fixed come election day? in the northern virginia suburbs, it tells the story. a lot of people out in the northern washington, d.c. area, fairfax county, arlington. you go back four years, you see all that blue. this is the area most critical to president obama. he has to win the state of virginia. again, when you call to these communities, they think they'll get it fixed in time for tuesday. >> john, when you talked to the two campaigns, i know this is -- they don't want to talk about

it, but does either see this benefiting them? >> it's fascinating that they give you the same answer and how rare is it that they will do that on a question? they say we're not going to talk about that. it would be insensitive and it would be wrong. but then privately, they say for the most part, think they it's a wash, especially if the power comes back on. the obama campaign is worried about the early voting. the ads have not come out and they have not been as active. so they're still slugging it out on the airwaves. privately, both campaigns think if there's any benefit, it will be a benefit to the president of the united states. but both sides think if it is, it's slight. >> thank you very much, john king. coming up next, we're going to

show you the pictures and tell you about the people we met stranded in their own homes on a night where the temperatures are now starting to rapidly drop. and the monumental task of getting the lights back on when crews can't get through the debr debris. president obama: there's just no quit in america...

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just across the hudson river, hoboken, new jersey is nearly at a breaking point. nearly 20,000 people could be trapped in their homes tonight. at one point, three quarters of that city was under water. 90% of the people are still without power. some of the power lines are literally drops down on the road. it's getting cold tonight and we just returned from hoboken where i went out with national guard troops trying to reach stranded residents. this is the staging area for the national guard. dozens of guards are here to evacuate anywhere from 15,000 to 20,000 people still trapped by flood waters. as rerolled out, the scene degrades from dry roads to waist high water. cars s abandoned. water full of oil, debris and sewage. up to 25% of the city is still submerged in water.

less than a mile into our trip, we see a man walking with his belongings. how bad was it? >> bad. all the doors caved in. >> reporter: hector is a superintendent of this flooded building. water is receding, but images like this car bring home the magnitude of the storm's wrath here. >> we've got a guy with chest problems. they want to get hick out. >> reporter: they brought their boetds here to help with the rescue. at times the water is so deep our humvee can't get through. so we went looking for a larger truck. we found one in the middle of a rescue. even the national guard are relying on cell phones. so we had to drive through the neighborhood to find another. that one had finally reached the man having chest pains in this building. instead of being evacuated, he chose to stay, to ride it out like he rode out the storm. many want to stay, despite the

fumes, the water, the lack of power. and tonight, conditions will be even worse. temperatures have been dropping all day, and there's no heat. but that isn't stopping the national guard. how many people do you think you've been able to get? >> i don't know. i'm sorry, we're not keeping track. we're just trying to get as many as we can. this is about helping our neighbors. >> reporter: it is about helping our neighbors and that's the way they were all young men we saw. they were there just trying to save and help people. it was humbling and inspiring. brian todd is also out in hoboken today and brian, i know where you are, i know the flood waters have come down a little bit. what are you seeing tonight? >> well, erin, they have receded a little bit today but still lingering. the mayor says they'll be around for another 24 hours. i'm at the corner of park avenue and newark street here. water coming up to almost my knees at this point. it gets a little shallower towards the middle here. this is a corner here where a

storm drain is. these two cars here have been stranded here for a couple of days. as you mentioned, a big concern here is kind of a health concern. this water is absolutely filthy. sewage, chemicals all over the place. a lot of other matter that's almost unthinkable. very unhealthy and the mayor expressed her concern why people should not be necessarily doing what we're doing in walking in it. two national guard vehicles just went through here. so they are still going around picking people up. that is ongoing. so this city certainly not out of the woods yet, as far as the danger and the flooding. >> you talk about the water. it looks oily and gross. i know that there was raw sewage in it. it's a horrible health risk and everyone is wading through it. i know you have on boots. but a lot of people have

makeshift plastic bags and things like that. how long are you hearing it's going to be before they can clear this out? >> reporter: we're hearing projections of at least a couple of days. when you see what's going on around these streets, you understand why. we have not seen a lot of high volume pumping going on, at least in this area. what we've seen is, volunteers, community volunteers coming on their own with like hoes and picks and things like that, to clear out the storm drains. there's a storm drain right here, right below where i'm standing. it gets kind of deep here. these guys are coming out in hip waders, clearing out storm drains. these are citizens volunteering. they're trying to clear the debris from the storm drains, but it's going to take a lot longer than a couple of days.

>> brian todd, thank you so much, reporting from hoboken. 20,000 people just sitting in apartments as the water is sitting in front of them, it's a big problem. never mind the cold and lack of power and as you saw, people with health problems who are still afraid to leave. later in the show, we'll show you the hoboken hospital. that will leave some of you very concerned. tonight, sandy is forcing another new york city hospital to evacuate. this time due to damage and loss of power. bellevue hospital is the oldest public hospital in the united states of america and moving nearly 700 patients from the facility. the hospital had been operating on a generator since losing power during the storm. >> they didn't think the damage was that bad and we did have a generator going and the national guard helped carry fuel up to the roof, because that's where the fuel tank was and they were running out. but when they got into the basement, they realized there

was nor damage. >> thank you very much for taking the time. you just heard the mayor say you didn't realize how bad the situation was. how could it have been that they didn't realize? >> well, it was very clear that we had a serious situation with a basement inundated with water. there's about a million square feet of space down there. we estimate about 17 million gallons of water was sitting in there. so we wanted to pump out enough so that we could assess whether it would be at all possible to repair some of the distribution grid that would allow us to power up some of the other essential systems in the building. the emergency generators are just not enough to keep this hospital operating for a longer term. >> are you able to get all of the people, the people in critical care, we can imagine the situations with the life

saving equipment. are all those people going to be okay? >> yes. thankfully they are. we had 725 patients in this hospital when the storm hit. there are now 260 patients awaiting transfer. we started actually yesterday, moving the critical care patients, even before it was clear to us it would be impossible to maintain operations at this hospital for a longer term. so the most vulnerable patients have been transfers and there's still 260 patients to be moved. most will move tonight and we'll be done by tomorrow. >> this isn't the only new york city hospital forced to evacu e evacuate. i remember monday night when the medical center had to evacuate patients. so do you have another hospital beds for all these people? and secondly, was it that you didn't foresee the magnitude of the storm, the hospitals weren't prepared or hospitals could

never be prepared for this and this is what is going to happen if a storm like this comes again? >> well, this was an unprecedented event. we weathered hurricane irene 14, 15 months ago with the same emergency preparations, and it didn't come close to endangering the hospital. this hospital sits 20 feet above sea level, we're 15 feet higher than nyu hospital next door, because the terrain rises slightly here. so it was obviously not anticipated we would get a storm surge of this magnitude. so clearly here, out of the east river, just because of the way the waters were being pushed and the level of the wind speeds, we wound up getting a lot of water here. we've never seen anything like this at bellevue hospital. >> thank you very much. we appreciate you taking the time tonight. and the task of removing debris

and getting the lights turned back on is under way on long island. but complicating matters, roadways are blocked by flood waters and preventing about 5,000 utility workers from starting to restore power. congressman peter king is out front tonight, chairman of the house homeland security committee. good to talk to you. >> thank you, erin. >> i wish it weren't under these circumstances. but how long do you think before things start to get back to normal at all? so many people are at home and as bad as things are at home, they want to try to have normalcy in their life. they want to go to work and can't. >> right now i'm at the emergency command center here in nassau county with the county executor. we have the state police here, fema, fire departments, basically everyone two could possibly be involved. and that is the goal, to get things back to normal as quickly as possible. the reality is, 1.1 million

customers for the long island power authority, over 900,000 are without power. so almost 90% of the people without power. there's hundreds and hundreds of trees down. still hundreds of traffic lights out there and flooding. every effort is being made, there is progress being made and some power has already been restored. but it's brutal. this is our version of katrina. i've been touring the south shore today in my district, and the devastation is enormous. what you're showing on your screen is typical of many areas on long island. right now the county executive is meeting with fema to set up plans as to how the recovery will take place. work is coming in from all over the country to work with lipa, to restore the power, but it's going to be a tough haul.

i can say that everything that can be done is being done. over the next several days, you'll see more power being restored. this could go on for another ten days to two weeks. >> are there still people missing? there are a lot of people who chose to ride this storm out. a lot of people who weren't even in areas that were supposed to be at high risk and they're still there. >> yeah. for instance, long beach, which is an island 30,000, 40,000 people on the island. many of them stayed, and i was talking to several people today. and this is just anecdotal. friends of theirs who cannot find their wife or daughters or their sons, cousins, people in homes who made frantic phone calls at 11:00, 12:00 on sunday night. and then the phone went dead. there's virtually no communication with long beach island right now. the police are out there. they're going door to door. but again, there is a concern

that there are people who are missing and may not be accounted for. as of now, there are no known fatalities in these areas. but there are people still missing, yes. >> and we keep hearing everyone say, we did everything we could, we' were ready for the storm. there's no question that authorities took this seriously. but do you think that people didn't -- authorities didn't understand how severe this storm was? that perhaps some of what we're seeing right now in terms of people trapped and missing could have been prevented? >> anything could be done better. but in this case, the people who are trapped, people were trapped and could be missing right now are people who chose to stay there. county executives in both counties urged people, ordered people to leave. they refused to leave and this what's happening now as a result of that. all of these people who are missing, all these people trapped all came from areas where they were ordered to evacuate.

this is one of the consequences of this. >> let me ask you one final question about new york city. you spoke with the homeland security secretary today. are you worried about new york, given in a sense it's vulnerable right now? >> yeah. listen, i have great faith in new york and in the commissioner, mayor bloomberg. but no, we have to be concerned. this is the most devastating hit, natural disaster ever to hit new york. the subway system is shut down, but erin, i was born and raised in new york city. my father was a city cop. never underestimate the spirit of new york. new york will come back stronger than ever. >> i believe that and i think everyone around the world is rooting for that. the still to come, we showed you the president today touring the damage caused by sandy. the republican governor had a lot of praise for the president. could the president's response affect election day?

and the loss of power created a very strange sight around our truck.

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christie and obama, perfect

together to paraphrase the old motto. the president did tour today with the republican governor and governor christie, who has been a key romney supporter, he said what he thought was true. he said that the president has done a good job on the storm. >> i cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern and compassion for our state and the people of our state. >> babe buchanon is a senior adviser to the romney campaign. so first of all, let's start with the comment. do you think the president has done a good job? >> on the storm? i don't think anybody would know getter than governor christie. >> is it hard to see a key romney surrogate heaping praise

on the president? he's one of the main guys fighting for romney. >> what i think you're seeing here is republicans have a tendency to be honest if they're doing a good job and honest if they're not. governor romney made a very strong case against barack obama, his failed policies and how it's done enormous amount of damage to americans across the country. so that's the case we're making, because the big decision is next week. and the governor understands the failed policies of barack obama, but he's been working with him on this storm and feels he's working very well with him. so be it. >> it is an image that will stick in some people's minds. i just want to ask you, "wall street journal" wrote a headline about the storm and underneath the headline about the storm, which is the top story around the country, is, race is back on after storm hiatus. as you can see, it did make the front page. look, i guess that's something.

it is a presidential election. but has the hiatus slowed mitt romney's momentum? are you just hoping whatever people thought before the storm, they froze whatever they're going to do and still going to do it and not see any swing back to the president? >> there's no question we have five days left, the momentum is with us, but you stop campaigning, you have to come back and see what happens. but we've been living under barack obama for four years. americans know exactly the impact his policies have had. enormously challenging. and what mitt romney is offering them is a break from the status quo. not four more years, but four years of promises of new jobs and a fresh start for millions of americans, a brighter future for their children. it's a clear choice here, and i don't think three days of us being worried and praying for the victims of this storm are going to change four years of barack obama. >> what about, though, then just

the bottom line here, which is the pass of 270 in ohio is difficult. polls haven't changed at all. you talk about momentum, but florida, ohio, virginia. ohio, 50% for the president, 45% for mitt romney. that's outside the margin of error. >> other polls show it very close within the margin of error. i saw a poll right before the storm that had a tie there. but i'll tell you what's key, erin, to look at now. with just a few days left, and that is barack obama has not broken 50%. he's down in the 47, 48, has been for what, the better of two months now? he can't break that number, whether it's ohio or florida or virginia, colorado. and on election day, there's a couple of things that will matter. if you're undecided, they'll break for the challengers.

so they'll break with the challengers. we have an amazing ground game. we're going to have our votes out there, the intensity is with us. all the fundamentals of this campaign are with mitt romney and that's because he's the best candidate out there with a great, great deal to offer american voters. >> thank you very much. appreciate your time. next, as much of the nation focuses on hurricane sandy, the candidates are increasing that focus on ohio. without it, it's almost impossible to become president. and the sandy cell phone phenomena. just if you look at this, we'll hold it up for a second. this is a charging station. when we drive our satellite trucks to some of these places, people flock. we'll show you why. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history.

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maybe even a little better. vsp members can save on all authentic transitions lenses, including our new transitions vantage and transitions xtractive lenses. experience life well lit. ask which transitions adaptive lens is best for you. and the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet.

and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... working together has never worked so well.

are you one of them? drink dream water, the natural, fast acting sleep aid that helps you wake refreshed. visit drinkdreamwater.com. as everyone focuses on the storm and the storm's effect on the election, let's talk about that. the election could come down to just ohio. that has not changed. our new cnn poll shows 49% to 46% in favor of the president.

john is in youngstown, ohio. john, let me ask you this, if it's this tight in ohio, is it possible we will not know who won the election on election night? >> reporter: that is what county officials call the nightmare is scenario. he's what it could look like. right now 1.4 million ohioans requested an early ballot, but only half have returned them. now, if they go to the polls on election day, they can't vote unless they cast a provision ol ballot. those votes won't be counted for ten days. so if ohio is close, it won't be november 6, it could be november 16 before we know who won ohio and possibly the presidency. >> oh, wow. that is a nightmare scenario. i think for everyone in this country. >> it is halloween, erin.

>> i know the focus there is on early voting, and i know you've spoken to some important people in ohio this week. u.s. senators and republican rob portman. here they are. >> the other side has so much more money and we win by grassroots politics. that means early voting, getting organized, people talking to their friends. >> if you haven't already early voted, go ahead and send that vote in. it's really important. this enables us to be free on election day. >> who has the upper hand on early voting, john? >> reporter: right now, according to county officials, democrats have a narrow edge, a couple thousand votes. but democrats tend to vote early. that's where the emphasis of the obama campaign has been and one of the reasons you saw rob portman stay to the volunteers, vote early so you can get people to the polls on election day.

republicans vote more on election day. democrats investing huge effort in those early votes because it's money in the bank. >> thanks to john avolon. up next, something i saw while i was in hoboken today. neighbors helping neighbors. everyone has goals.

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in hoboken, new jersey today we saw a community in distress. take a look at this. this was the hospital in hoboken. closed. the doors were open, there was a home made sign indicating call 911, we can't help. and while there were reports of looting at a drugstore there, what i want to focus on are the images of hope. people in total silent and darkness, shopping at the only open local store. they were waiting patiently to buy food and supplies. and which showed you the good samaritans who brought their own boats to help the national guard. all of those young men and women are heroes. two told me they haven't slept since the storm. but they're still out there tonight trying to help people as the temperatures drop. but not everything was that dramatic. they were clustered around any power, sharing to charge their cell phones. that's happening across